Why Is This Lot on Milpas Street Still Vacant?

We’d love to find out the status of the vacant lot at Milpas and De La Guerra. It was a gas station decades ago, and I thought it was being decontaminated—but the process seems stalled. It’s such a key corner for the Eastside. —T.

Indeed, according to Jarrett Gorin of Vanguard Planning, who represents owner Carlo Inc., the city approved a plan in 2010 to develop the .51-acre lot with eight live-work units (as well as a seven-unit condominium next door at 817 N. Milpas, pictured below). Due to uncertainty in the housing market, the developers decided to delay the project and ultimately explore other options.”We looked at retail and other stuff, but none of that worked out,” says Gorin. “The car dealer across the street wanted to do an expanded lot over there, and we came up with an attractive landscaping design, but the city made it so difficult.” Faced with one roadblock after another, the developers decided to pull the plug on that concept as well. As a result, and even with the potential to build something much larger these days, Gorin says that his partners have no appetite for the process and are content to let the site lie fallow.

Got a question you’d like investigated? Email [email protected] or text 917-209-6473.

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Previous Burning Questions:
••• Where else do cruise ships that visit here go?
••• What’s happening with the Pepper Tree Inn?
••• What is this large memorial in Ennisbrook?
••• What’s the large building under construction next to Highway 101?
••• Who bought the former St. Mary’s seminary—and why?
••• What will happen to the SBPD building when the new building is completed?
••• How does the city decide to mark bike lanes?
••• What’s the story with this house on W. Cota Street?
••• What are those little houses on Santa Barbara Street?
••• Which Highway 101 exits are getting renamed?
••• Is the Music Academy of the West adding pedestrian gates?
••• Why does the Coast Village Road median look so bad?
↓↓↓ What’s the point of this light pole near the freeway?
••• Why are the city’s parking lots scanning license plates?
••• What’s inside Paseo Nuevo’s State Street tower?
••• What’s the point of these markings on Laguna Street?
••• Why is there a giant red shoe off Highway 101?
••• Are we no longer allowed on the SBHS baseball field?
••• What does “SBTP” on this post mean?
••• What’s up with the “no e-bike” signs on local trails?
••• Why is Franceschi House in a holding pattern?
••• Why is there a train station inside this State Street storefront?
••• What’s happening with this derelict house in Summerland?
••• Why is there wood on some power lines?
••• Can you explain how sundowner winds work?
••• Why is there a pressure cooker attached to this utility pole?
••• What’s this concrete ramp thing on East Beach?
••• Why does “USA” get written on the street?
••• What are those poles in the ocean near the Ritz-Carlton Bacara?
••• Are people really allowed to set fires in the middle of Montecito?
••• What’s the story with the half-finished lot next to the Montecito Country Mart?

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